Hines Prepares to Build in U.S.
After Years of Building Abroad

By

Neal Templin Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Jan. 14, 1998 12:42 a.m. ET

HOUSTON -- Houston developer Hines, which has done most of its building abroad in recent years, says it lined up financial commitments that will allow it to build as much as $1.1 billion in office projects in the U.S. during the next three to five years.

One of the nation's biggest builders during the 1980s real-estate boom, Hines switched to buying existing buildings in the early 1990s, taking advantage of the country's depressed real-estate prices. Now, Jeff C. Hines, the 42-year-old president of the closely held firm,...